Howard Bern
Howard Bern was a CTU Los Angeles field agent active during Day 4. Day 4 When Jack Bauer asked CTU field agents for volunteers to conduct a secret raid on the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles, Bern was among those who volunteered. Their mission was to extract key terrorist conspirator Lee Jong — who was seeking asylum there — to interrogate him about the upcoming nuclear strike set in motion by Habib Marwan. After being driven out to the consulate, Jack, Howard, and the others completed the raid using stun darts. At one point, Bern struggled with a consulate guard, and he was unmasked for a brief moment that was caught on a surveillance camera. Just as Jack carried out Lee Jong, consulate security opened fire with live rounds, accidentally killing their Consul Koo Yin and hitting Lee Jong. Cheng Zhi, the security officer at the consulate, later examined the footage of the raid and identified Bern using China's database of American operatives. He confronted the lead staff at CTU LA with the image, but Bauer and the others remained adamant with their cover story that the raid was conducted by an Asian terror cell. Bern, still at CTU, was spotted by Jack and rushed to CTU San Diego to lay low for awhile. Once the helicopter dropped him off at the San Diego domestic branch, Bern was escorted to a vehicle. Inside the car he was suddenly abducted by Chinese operatives and Cheng Zhi himself: the real CTU staff had been tied up and injured or killed, and his escort was an impostor. Cheng told him that he must confess the name of the leader of the raid; if he did not, he would be confined for the rest of his life in a Chinese labor camp and his family would never know what happened. Though he refused to cooperate, Bern eventually gave in on the promise that he would be released, and made a recorded confession which named Jack Bauer as the leader of the raid. The Chinese used the confession to incriminate Jack Bauer, so Walt Cummings from the White House later sent corrupt Secret Service agent Dale Spalding to kill Jack. Memorable quotes * Howard Bern: I don't know. * Cheng Zhi: All we want is a name. A recorded statement naming the person responsible for what happened at the consulate. * Howard Bern: Then... then what happens? * Cheng Zhi: (gesturing) You will walk right out of that door. * Howard Bern: I meant... to him. * Cheng Zhi: As I said, all we want is justice. * Howard Bern: His name... is Jack Bauer. Background information and notes * Howard Bern appears in "Day 4: 6:00am-7:00am" in pre-recorded footage recorded sometime within the hour. * James Morrison (Bill Buchanan) mistakenly refers to Bern as "Agent Burns" in "Day 4: 5:00am-6:00am" when telling him that he'll be in touch. * It was not explicitly shown if Bern was released by Cheng as promised following his confession. Live appearances See also Category:Characters Category:Day 4 characters Category:CTU personnel Category:CTU Field Operations agents Category:Living characters